Tuesday, October 14, 2008

randomness.

So I'm at Boston College right now. A few random questions/thoughts follow...

Any updates on a Food/Gardening class next spring? Registration is next month for Easter '09 and we better have it sorted out before then if we want to do it. BC has a class this fall called "Food and Politics." Here's a quotation by the professor: 
"Fortunately, we will have a next generation of farmers. Not because they are inheriting land and wealthy enterprises. Not because government policy encourages the maintenance of American traditions of husbandry, land stewardship, and frugal entrepreneurship. Not because there's any money in it. But because a generation of young people wants meaningful work, and they want to heal the earth, our relationships, and our economy. And they see these things are related. They are clamoring to learn farming, real farming, the kind you do by knowing nature, knowing a piece of land, and producing in a context of community. The big ag schools, with textbooks full of fertilizer formulas, are aghast. The grand universities who thought farming was out-of-date are scrambling to build interdisciplinary knowledge about food's origins and meanings. And students, desperate for hands-on skills, are building scrappy gardens at their stately universities, vegetable gardens that light the way to a newly respectable career and industry."
And here's a quote about their garden:
The garden provides recreational and educational activities for students and faculty of Boston College as well as the local community. It is a place for people to gather and work on a fun project together outside in the sun. Once further established, groups of students from Newton’s local schools/summer camps, as well as Boston College’s Campus School will be welcomed and encouraged to take educational fieldtrips to the garden to learn about sustainable agriculture, how to garden, and the benefits of eating local. These trips have the potential to be led by students of the Lynch school and/or interested volunteers.
And this seems like a cool idea that we should totally do at Sewanee...
Furthermore, as a Jesuit school that often quotes the phrase “Men and Women for others,” the garden is also an outlet of service. That is, while other schools usually sell the majority of their produce back to the dining hall, because of the smaller scale of our plot, the idea is to donate this produce to local food shelters and host free community dinners/lunches over the summer months.
Nice links to wander around:

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